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Rome Fest's All-Night 'Twilight' Marathon Attracts Hundreds of Fans

A full day's activity centered on the series, including the "Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" premiere and a marathon of the first four films adapted from the Stephenie Meyer books.

ROME -- The International Rome Film Festival’s Twilight Saga day drew to a close Tuesday with an eight-hour marathon showing the first four films in the franchise back-to-back, concluding early Wednesday morning.

About 275 excited fans started a full day of activity related to the film, sponsored by the Rome festival’s Alice in the City sidebar, which focuses on films for young people. Activities included screenings of key scenes from the series, meetings with the Italian actors who dubbed the main roles in the films, a Twilight Saga trivia contest, a 12-minute featurette made up of scenes from Richard LaGravenese's upcoming film Beautiful Creatures and culminating with the international premiere of Twilight: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2, which screened to a full house at the festival’s main venue, and then the all-night marathon.

The premiere took place in Rome without high-profile stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who were at the U.S. launch of the film at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. But that just put the fans center stage for the Rome premiere.

About 100 giddy Twihards stuck with the program long enough to start the eight-hour movie marathon, during which they were rewarded during the breaks between films with such Twilight-related gifts as books, T-shirts and DVDs. Each seat in the cinema came equipped with special cans of Pepsi from the soft drink maker’s limited-edition series focusing on the film’s three main characters.

Several of the fans dressed up as characters from the film and, while waiting in line, recited favorite lines from the movies and quizzed each other on trivia.

“Most of these people have seen all the films several times, so it’s interesting that they’re here to stay up all night to see them again,” said Donatella Lambertucci, 34, an office administrator from Le Marche, about 10 miles north of Rome. She said she made the trip for the Twilight films and to catch a glimpse of Sylvester Stallone, who stars in Walter Hill’s Bullet to the Head, which will premiere at the Rome fest Wednesday.

Other fans were less analytical about their reasons for watching the films. “It’s for the actors! They’re great!” 12-year-old Lea and her 13-year-old friend Virgilia, both from Rome, shouted and giggled when asked why they were waiting in line to see the four films in a row.

Alessandro, 12, said he was just drawn to films with “supernatural characters,” while 12-year-old Marina said she came to the marathon for the now-rare chance to see the films on the big screen. “Most of the time we have to watch a DVD to see them, and it’s better on a huge screen,” she said.

A few of the moviegoers came with their parents. “My son talks about these films every day, but I’ve never seen more than a few scenes,” offered Marco Masciarelli, 44, an engineer. "So this is a way for me to see what all the fuss is about."

This year’s Rome festival is the first under the artistic director of Marco Mueller, who came to Rome after a successful eight-year stint at the Venice Film Festival. He was approved for the post only five months before announcing the festival lineup, and the local media has criticized him for not attracting more big-name premieres to the festival. But Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Bullet to the Head, DreamWorks’ animated adventure tale Rise of the Guardians, and Tar, the latest project involving James Franco, helped stem some of those criticisms. Rise of the Guardians also premieres Wednesday, while Tar will screen later in the week.

The seventh edition of the festival began Nov. 9 and concludes Saturday.